Detroit Tigers: Christin Stewart, Mike Gerber should be September call-ups

Mike Gerber

While Stewart was a first-round pick and has lived up to the billing with some promising displays, Mike Gerber is outperforming his draft position.

A 15^th-round pick in 2014, Gerber has produced at a high level at every minor league stop he’s made.

In his first full season at Double-A this year, after making a 41-game stop at the level in 2016, Gerber is having one of his best minor league campaigns.

Entering play Wednesday, Gerber was hitting .299 with a .371 on-base percentage, a .481 slugging percentage and an .852.

He’s also added 64 runs scored, 44 RBI, 41 walks, 24 doubles, 12 home runs, 10 stolen bases and three triples.

It’s obviously hard to judge a prospect based on production alone, but it’s also hard to ignore how successful Gerber has been at the plate.

In four minor league seasons he’s hitting .290 with a .357 on-base percentage, a .474 slugging percentage and an .831 OPS.

He’s also contributed across the board, with 251 runs scored, 242 RBI, 104 doubles, 50 home runs, 43 stolen bases and 23 triples in 248 games.

The Tigers will need to add Gerber to the team’s 40-man roster in the offseason to protect him from the Rule 5 anyway, so calling him up now would allow him to get his feet wet in the Majors before taking on a larger role in 2018.